| NOTE: This page is only about the film version of Byron Hadley as his novel counterpart is not Near Pure Evil. Thus, only this version of Hadley's info and crimes should be put here. |
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"Mature Content Warning!" |
| “ | You eat when we say you eat, you shit when we say you shit, and you piss when we say you piss! You got that, you maggot-dicked motherfucker?! | „ |
| ~ Hadley abusing a new inmate. |
| “ | Dufresne [taps the window thrice with his baton]... you're mine now. | „ |
| ~ Hadley to Andy Dufresne. |
Captain Byron Hadley, commonly referred to as Byron Hadley, is the secondary antagonist of the 1994 drama film The Shawshank Redemption (which is based on the 1982 Stephen King novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption).
He is a cruel and barbaric prison guard captain and Samuel Norton's right-hand who takes sadistic delight in abusing inmates, being the most notorious and vulgar of the prison guards in the Shawshank penitentiary.
He was portrayed by Clancy Brown, who also portrayed Kurt Caldwell in Dexter: New Blood and Richard Brinkerhoff in Gen V and voiced Uka Uka in the Crash Bandicoot video games, President Luthor in Justice League, Mr. Freeze in The Batman, Long Feng in Avatar: The Last Airbender, Yakone in The Legend of Korra and Gunmar in Tales of Arcadia.
His Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Him Close to Being Pure Evil?[]
- When a new inmate asked, "When do we eat?", Hadley belligerently approached him, verbally abused him, and then used his baton to strike the inmate in the privates.
- When another new inmate nicknamed "Fat Ass" cried because he missed his mother and couldn't bear the harsh nature of prison life, Hadley ordered him to shut up or he will "sing [him] a lullaby”, and after Fat Ass kept sobbing, Hadley grabbed him from his cell and violently beat him unconscious, causing him to later die from his injuries.
- Though this wasn’t Byron Hadley’s intention, he does not show any remorse for this.
- He showed no sadness over his brother's death, calling him an asshole.
- Although he got angry at Andy for questioning if he should trust his wife, this could have simply been a response to him feeling insulted as opposed to being evidence he cares about her.
- His relationship with his children is not expanded on beyond him expressing annoyance at possibly having to spend money driving them around after buying a car.
- When Andy approached him to use his financial knowledge to help Hadley, Hadley initially did not cooperate and nearly threw Andy off the prison roof, only stopping when Andy made his offer to help him clear.
- Although he beats up Bogs, who raped Andy multiple times, this was only out of pragmatism so the prisoner wouldn’t possibly kill Andy, and even then he beat Bogs so badly the prisoner wasn’t able to walk and only ate food through a straw (even though Bogs definitely deserved it).
- While inspecting Andy's cell, he took one of his small figurines which presumably took months if not years to make, just to spite Andy.
- While Andy played the music on the intercom, Byron tapped the glass and sadistically told Andy, “You're mine now”, before placing him in two weeks of solitary confinement under Norton's orders.
- He reneged on abusing Andy after the latter finishes helping him.
- As Norton forced Andy to spend another month in solitary confinement, Byron mockingly smiled at Andy before closing the door.
- He helped Norton in his racketeering and business scams, assisting him in preventing word of their corruption from escaping the prison.
- Most notably, he murdered Tommy Williams under Norton's orders so Norton can keep Andy incarcerated to prevent word of his corruption from being exposed, and so Norton could have Andy continue to launder money for him.
- While he had the decency to surrender himself to the police without a fight as opposed to Norton, he doesn’t show remorse for his actions.
- He passes the Heinous Standard for being a huge reason why the prison is such a hell-hole to live in.
What Prevents Him from Being Pure Evil?[]
- He directed Andy to a fellow guard known as Denkins so Andy could give him financial advice, suggesting he genuinely has a friendship with or at least gets along with the other guards.
Trivia[]
- Only the film version of Byron Hadley is Near Pure Evil, as the novella version of Hadley is far less cruel and lacks sufficiently heinous actions due to being a more minor character, in addition to the astronomically high Heinous Standards of the Stephen King Multiverse.
External Links[]
- Byron Hadley on the Villains Wiki
- Byron Hadley on the Stephen King Wiki
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 Near Pure Evils
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Live-Action Features See Also | ||
 Near Pure Evils
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Novels Adaptations | ||
